Jason Aldean Takes Viewers Backstage on CBS Special

‘CBS This Morning‘ shared the below clips of Jason Aldean‘s recent interview with Ben Tracy, where Aldean took Tracy backstage on his sold-out tour and also opened up about his rapid rise to country stardom. Despite the fact that Aldean didn’t win at the Grammys, he had the top-selling country album of the year as well as the fifth bestselling album in all of music. The singer is currently on his My Kinda Party Tour, where Tracy caught up with him before a show in Orlando.

As you would expect, the ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ hitmaker met up with the interviewer in a ball cap, a baseball T-shirt and jeans. Speaking of his sold-out tour where he might play to 20,000 people in one night, Aldean says, “I wanted to make it more of an event, you know, more than just a normal concert or a normal show. And that’s one thing that I’ve always tried to keep in mind when we’re putting our show together is how do I keep people from wanting to go to the bathroom?”

Aldean talks some about his slow start in Nashville, moving to Music City in 1998 and still not having a deal five years later. He remembers calling a cousin and asking for a job when he just didn’t think things would pan out for him. But after Broken Bow Records latched onto his sound and released his self-titled debut in 2005, Aldean shot onto the scene — and fast. Singles started going No.1, and he remembers when mega-hit ‘Big Green Tractor’ became ubiquitous.

“When that song hit, it was like all of a sudden I couldn’t go in a restaurant and eat without somebody’s phone ringing and that was their ringtone,” he says. Taking Tracy backstage, Aldean says touring with Rascal Flatts taught him about the importance of a backstage bar, though he doesn’t have fancy taste. When asked if he feels like he’s made it, Aldean has two responses.

“In a sense, yes,” he says. “In another sense I never kinda want to feel that way. I think if you start to feel like you’ve accomplished everything you can accomplish, you start to get lazy. And when you start to get lazy, there’s somebody there that’s waiting to take your spot.” Aldean, whose highest ticket price is $56, still seems to be all about the fans.

“People come to a concert to have a good time and kind of forget whatever crappy thing might have happened to them that week, and it’s our job for a few hours to come out and give them a show, entertain them and let them have some fun,” he says. “And that’s what we try to do.”